Trolley hoisting device



March 26, 1935. B. F. FITCH 1,995,298

' TROLLEY HOIST'ING DEVICE Filed July 29, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 gmwm March 26, 1935. B. F.FITCH I TROLLEY HOISTINCT DEVICE Filed July 29, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 3110c ntorduo; c130 Patented M UNITE STAT-ES PAT NT" mechanism ada from vehicles, transport themand deposit them in a new location, as for instance, on another vehicle or on a support.

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oFFce TROLLEYV HOISTING DEVICE 7 Benjamin F. Fitch, Greenwich, Cdnm, assignor to Motor Terminals Company, New York;-N. Y.,

a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to a trolley hoisting pted to raise demountablebodies The object is to pro- .vide efficient raising and trolleying mechanism adapted to travel on; asingle suspended trackway,

and operating to raise a body and thereafter transport it while preserving it level.

To the above end, I provide two trolley hoist mechanisms, mounted in tandem on an I-beam trackway, and a cradle suspended at one end by one mechanism, and at the otherend bythe other, and provided with fourdepending shackles for engagement with a demountablebody at two points on each side of the body. I I

My invention is illustrated in the drawings hereof, and is hereinafter more fully described, and the essential novel features'are summarized in the. claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a. side elevation of my mechanism suspending and raising a .de-

mountable body froma highway truck; Fig. 2 is an end view of the same; Fig. 3 is an enlarged 5 end view of the trolley hoisting mechanism and way truck; and

to rest thereon.

B a demountable body adapt-ed The body is shown as having doors b in its sides and b in its ends, by which it may be loaded. Secured to the twosides of the body betwe en the doors 2) and the ends of the body are upwardly extendingstraps b termihating in hooks ing device. C

b for engagement with the liftindicates the overhead support,

which consists of an I-beam, on the lower flanges of which the trolley hoisting mechanism travels, such mechanism having wheels riding on the flanges and having hoisting mechanism to be described, which operates to raise a floating frame, attached to thehooks b Referring now more particularly to Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive, 10 1 connected by a ndicates a pair of frames rigidly longitudinal brace. This brace,

as shown, consists of a pair of flanged shapes 11 bolted to the frames 10.

Each of the frames carries identical supporting, lifting, and trolleying mechanism, an one of suchme them.

As :shown particularly in c ross-section in Fig. 3, each of the frames 10 extends upwardly to the opposite sidesof the I be'am C and near its upper end carries tworpairs of aligned shafts 12. The two aligned shaftsiof each pair carry; at

their inner ends supporting wheels 14 and at their outer ends spur gears 15. There are thus four supporting wheels and fourspur gears for each hoisting head. The two spur gears on one side are shown :in Fig. .6 as meshing with an idler pinion 16 one. stub-shaft,-and the same construction is true of thet-wospur gears on the other side; The two idler pinions 16 mesh with. two driving pinions w17v on a shaft 18, suitably journalled in the frame. This shaft is shown as carrying a driving gear 20-, with which meshes .a'pinionr25vin the armaturefshaftof the motor 26,, this :motor being supported by a. bracket 27, projecting. laterally from the frame .10. Accordingly, this motor, when energized-may operate the four wheels in :unison to trolley the frame.

' .The frame l0'has a depending portion in which isimounted a shaft .30 on which is a cabledrum 31. This shaft is shown as carrying a spur gear 32, which meshes with a pinion 33 on a stub shaft this pinion is rigid with the gear 34, with which meshes a pinion 35 on the armature shaft of a hoisting motor 36. This motor 36 is carried by a bracket 3'7 projecting from the hoist frame on that side. It results from this that when the motor 36 is energized the drum 31 is rotated in one direction or the other to wind in or pay out a cable wound about it. I

I have shown a cable 40, anchored at its upper end 41 to the hoist frame 10 and then depending a bight about a movable sheave 50, the frame 51 of which carries a hook 52. Above the sheave, the cable passes around the drum a number of times and is suitably anchored thereto;

The load engaging cradle is a floating open rectangular frame, preferably'composed of longi tudinal tubular bars and'transverse bars 61,

suitably secured thereto. Pivotally mounted on the bars 60, near the transverse bars are depending U-shaped shackles 62, shown as carried by transverse-pins 63 and each adapted to engage one of the hooks b of the demountable body.

Extending upwardly from the floating frame above each shackle, is an eye 65, and to these eyes are secured supporting members, as the hog rods 70. The two hog rods at one end extend diagonally upwardly toward each other and are connected to a fitting '71; which has an eye 72, adapted to engage the hook 52 of the hoist mechanism. The construction at the other end of the cradle is the same, so that it is supported by the hook 52 of the other hoist mechanism.

It is to be understood that the operator is provided with a suitable electric controller adapted to energize the twomotors 26 in either direction, and likewise the two motors 36 in either direction at controllable. speeds. Now when a truck containing a loaded body for instance, is driven beneath the supporting beam 0, the operator energizes the motors 26 in unison to propel his mechanism in a position over the body. He then operates the motors 36 in a proper direction to lower the cradle, so that the shackles 62 may be caused manually, or automatically, toenter the open mouths of the body hooks b3; -.-Then the operator actuates the motor 36 of the'two units in the proper direction to pull upon the two cables 40, thus raising the body. When sufficient ly raised, a suitable solenoid brake indicated at 38, Fig. 3, or other means not shown, prevents rotation of the armature of the motor 26 and thus maintains the body in its elevated position.

The operator may now actuate the two motors 26 in the proper direction to trolley the body lengthwise of the trackway to the new position desired and at the :end of this movement may hold the mechanism stationary by a solenoid brake 28, or other means not shown. After this the rotation of the motor 36 in the opposite direction lowers the bodyonto its new support.

It will be seen that the trolleying and hoisting motor are arranged on opposite sides of the trolleying and supporting head, so that they practically balance each other, and the supporting cables lead from regions beneath the beam trackway,'which gives a stable support for each hoisting and trolleying unit. The rigid brace between the two units prevents one unit trolley travelling faster or slower than the other, in case either motor tends to lag. While for ordinary uses the two raising motors will be operated by the controller as a unit, the controller may have provision for operating these motors'independently,

which will enable the load being raised to be kept absolutely level, in case it is loaded materially heavier at one end than the other. If such unequal loading tends to slow down the motor at the heavy end, that motor may be operated independently .of the other to rectify any tipping of the hoist frame toward the heavier end.

I claim: I

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of trolley hoisting mechanism having a frame, wheels carried thereby adapted to rest on the lower flanges of an I-beam, an operating motor carried by the frame on one side with its axis transverse, spur reduction gearing between said motor and the wheels on both flanges of the support, whereby the motor may trolley the frame, a raising drum carried by the frame beneath the I-beam, a motor on the opposite side from the trolleying motor with its axis transverse and substantially aligned with the axis of the first-mentioned motor, spur reduction gearing connecting the latter motor with the drum, and a flexible load-supporting member passingover the drum and adapted to be wound up by it.

2. In a trolley hoisting mechanism of the class described, the combination of a frame adapted to extend outwardly on opposite sides of an I-beam support, said frame carrying shafts which have wheels on theirinner ends adapted to rest on the I-beam, said shafts having gears on their outer ends, a motor carried by the frame on one side thereof with its armature shaft transverse and connected with said gears, said frame having a pair of spaced depending portions carrying a transverse shaft, a raising drum on said shaft, a raising motor carried by the frame onthe opposite side and having a. transverse armature shaft geared with the drum shaft and substantiallyaligned with the first-mentioned armature shaft, a cable adapted to be raised or lowered by the rotation of the drum, and load attaching means carried by the cable.

' BENJAMIN F. FITCH. 

